By Virginia Tangvald
Country: Canada, France
Languages: French, English
Original title: LES ENFANTS DU LARGE
Production year: 2024
Runtime: 1h30
Production company: Microscope Inc., NFB & Urban Factory
Virginia only knew her father, the relentless adventurer Peter Tangvald, through his best-selling memoirs. After experiencing success followed by bankruptcy in Beverly Hills in the 1950’s, he left everything behind to spend the rest of his life sailing the world on a boat he built himself.
Married seven times, he lost two wives at sea before dying himself alongside his 8-year-old daughter when his boat sank in the West Indies in 1991. His son, Thomas, the only survivor of this tragedy, subsequently vanished at sea without a trace, in 2014.
In an investigation taking her from Scandinavia to France via Canada and the Caribbean, Virginia sets out to uncover the secrets of her family and understand her brother’s mysterious disappearance. As disturbing revelations and suspicious deaths pile up, she starts to discover what her brother Thomas may have been running from, and realizes that her father may not be the hero she – like many others – had idealized her whole life.